Info for the savvy entrepreneur

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I love ConvertKit for so many reasons but probably one of the biggest reasons is how easy it is to use!

There might be a bit of a learning curve in terminology depending on which email services you’ve used before, but once you get the hang of that, the actual system is really intuitive and super easy to learn.

I thought it would be helpful to walk through some of the common tasks ConvertKit users will be doing on a regular basis - essentially create a body of 'ConvertKit How-Tos’!

Social media is a cool thing. We can connect with long-lost friends and family, share pictures, and keep in touch. You can also learn lots of cool things from Pinterest and watch funny videos on YouTube. But social media is also a great tool for your business, too! And I don't mean for marketing and getting sales.

Facebook in particular has been a virtual godsend for me because I am able to network with other VAs, find potential clients, but most importantly, learn!

This is one of the most common questions I come across in Facebook groups. People want some help with their businesses, but they have no idea what a VA can actually do.

Before diving in, I want to preface by saying no two VAs are the same.

We all have tasks that we are more skilled in than others. Some VAs only work with certain types of businesses, like coaches, brick and mortar, healthcare professionals, etc. Others are generalist VAs who do a bit of everything.

When I first got the idea to start my virtual assistant business, I didn’t know for sure the best way to get started.

There were a few classes I could invest in to learn how to go about starting my business, but I wasn’t able to take the plunge. So I became good friends with Google and learned enough that I was able to get started and am still going strong 2.5 years later.

But there a few things I didn’t learn by googling that I really should have done differently and I made a some mistakes....

As business owners, we’re often thinking about the next thing we can do to get another client, sell more of our products, have a bigger reach, and ultimately make more money. And I’m sure a lot of us spend time thinking about our goals and accomplishments and also where we would like our businesses to take us.

While it’s important to focus on these things, we also need to take time to think about how we can help others, too...

A highly requested tasks from many clients of VAs is to send an email out for them to their mailing lists, customers, other businesses, etc.

Usually the client writes the email and then sends it over to their VA to send out to the intended recipients(s). These emails can be newsletters, announcements, launch emails, list building, you name it. But the all require the same basic information in order to be sent.

Many businesses both online and brick & mortar connect with their customer and follower base through newsletters.

They’re a great way to share valuable ideas and tips and also keep your followers up-to-date of the goings on with your business.

But, like anything else with our businesses, they can take quite a bit of time to get together. After all, sending out a newsletter requires way more than just simply writing the newsletter copy. Or does it?

The world of virtual assistance can seem like there’s a shroud of mystery surrounding it. How do you find VAs? Can a VA actually save you time? The list goes on… My goal is to try to remove the vale and make things as crystal clear as I can. Today I want to tackle: How VAs charge for their services

These are the most common ways I’ve encountered that VAs bill for their services:

When I first started my VA business, I was more of a generalist. There were few tasks and projects I would turn down because I wanted to get experience. It gave me the opportunity for trial and error. To see what I liked doing and what I didn’t.

If you do any kind of online work, chances are you’ll need a few images for your website, social media, blog, whatever. And we all know that you have to be careful with image licensing. You can’t just go to Google and grab an image that you like without taking a chance of pirating someone’s image or violating Creative Commons licensing.

You're trusting someone to come into your business to help, not hurt, your progress. Ideally, working with a VA will free up your valuable time that's spent on extraneous tasks so you can focus on tasks that only you can do.

So you want to work with a virtual assistant, but you're not sure quite how much assistance you need. You can contract a VA for one project or launch, on an as-needed basis, or have assistance every week long-term.

But how do you know what would be best for you and your business needs?

Online courses are all the rage right now in the online entrepreneur world. People love that they can learn from experts around the globe with the click of a mouse and they can be a solid source of passive income.

If you’re an expert in your field, it’s probably not too difficult to come up with great content that would easily create a course and sell. But what if you aren’t a super technical person or don’t want to mess with putting everything together?

You’ve worked hard on your business. It’s growing, you’ve got lots of clients, a good online presence, and you’re looking to expand things further. But there’s only so much time in a day and you need some help...

Let’s face it, pretty much everyone would love the ultimate freedom of being able to set your own schedule, work whenever you want, and still make good money at the same time right?

Lots of folks achieve this dream by starting their own businesses working from home. Starting a business is hard work and it takes a lot of time, but all of that time and effort is totally worth it in my book to be able to reap the benefits!

As I speak with other business owners and entrepreneuers, I have found that a good majority of them have the same goal: To Make Money

But often, there's a much deeper reason for their choices. Each of us has our own motivation for being in business and working toward the ultimate goal of making money. I call this motivation and reason 'My Why'.